Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Highlights Development and Validation of BluePrint®

IRVINE, California and AMSTERDAM, September 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Peer-Reviewed Article Notes That Multi-Gene Subtyping Profile Provides Deeper Insight Into Breast Cancer

Agendia, an innovative molecular cancer diagnostics company, today announced that a published report highlighting the development and validation of its 80-gene BluePrint breast cancer profile was published online in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, a peer-reviewed publication. BluePrint is a part of Agendia's Symphony™ suite of breast cancer products, a comprehensive collection of genetic assays that help address complex treatment decisions for any type and stage of breast cancer. The article notes that, when used in combination with Agendia's FDA-cleared MammaPrint® recurrence test, BluePrint provides an additional level of understanding for physicians, classifying breast cancer patients into Basal-type, Luminal-type A and B, and HER2-type subgroups. Recently, the expert panel at the 12^th St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference (2011) recommended specific treatments for those particular breast cancer subtypes.

"This article illustrates the vital role of molecular subtyping in the treatment decision process for breast cancer patients. The combination of Symphony's MammaPrint and BluePrint micro-array assays provides physicians with unprecedented insight into their patient's tumor," said Dr. Bernhard Sixt, Agendia's CEO and co-founder. "From just one biopsy sample, Agendia's Symphony suite of tests provides clear insight into who to treat and how to treat them, helping to identify the optimal treatment tailored to each patient's individual needs and genetics."

The article describes molecular subtyping of breast cancer patients as "…important for the proper selection of therapy, as tumors with seemingly similar histopathological features can have strikingly different clinical outcomes." Further, the use of BluePrint may improve clinical management of breast cancer patients by identifying those patients who are most likely to benefit from either chemotherapy or endocrine therapy.

Recent studies have shown that the classification of breast cancer into molecular subtypes is largely represented by the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and the HER2 status of the tumor. Breast cancer can be classified into molecular subtypes by simple hiererarchical clustering of breast tumors according to their gene expression patterns.

About Agendia:

Agendia is a leading global commercial molecular diagnostic company that develops and markets genomic-based diagnostic products that improve the quality of life for cancer patients and simplifies complex treatment decisions for their physicians. Agendia's Symphony™ suite of breast cancer products is based on the analysis of hundreds of genes in a patient's breast and provides unprecedented biological insight to address complex treatment decisions. Symphony includes MammaPrint, the first and only FDA-cleared IVDMIA breast cancer recurrence assay, as well as BluePrint, a molecular subtyping assay, TargetPrint®, an ER/PR/HER2 expression assay, and TheraPrint®, a therapy selection assay. Together, these tests help physicians determine a patient's individual risk for metastasis, which patients will benefit from chemo or hormonal therapy, and which patients do not require these treatments and can instead be treated with other less arduous and costly methods.

In addition to the Symphony suite of tests, Agendia has a rich pipeline of genomic products in development based on its world-class genomic platform. The company also collaborates with pharmaceutical companies to develop companion diagnostic tests in the area of oncology and is a critical partner in the ISPY-2 and MINDACT trials.

Agendia was founded in 2003 as a spin-off of the Netherlands Cancer Institute and is based in Irvine, California, United States, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. For more information, please visit http://www.agendia.com.